Machine for displaying rugs



Deu/4;' 195i E. Rx-:lss ErAl.

MACHINE FOR DISPLAYING Rues Filed March 26, 1947 Dec. 4, 1951 E. RElss ETAL MACHINE FOR DISPLAYING Rues 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 26, 1947 Dec. 4, 1951 E. Rl-:lss Erm. 2,577,366

MACHINE FOR DISPLAYING RUGS Filed March 26, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheei 3 De 4, 1951 E. Reiss ErAL MACHINE FOR DISPLAYING RUC-S 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 26, 1947 Patented Dec. 4, 1951 MACHINE .EOBDISPLAYING BUGS.

Ernest Reiss, Brookline, and Harry R. Gewertz, Cambridge, Mass., assignors toDevelopment & Design, Ine.. Boston, Mass.,V a cnrneration 0.1?

Massachusetts enteran Meer 26, 19M-Serial N- 737,216 2 Qlaims, (CL. lm-3.6)

Thisinvention relates to a machine for displayingfugs, and more particularly. to a machine for mechanically laying out successively a large number of .rugs so that each entire rug is. presented to view.

Heretofore. in displaying. a number of: rugs for merchandising and` other purposes it has been necessary to exert a great deal of physical eiiort in` unrolling or moving. rugs by hand so that the successive rugs might be seen, and4 usually the services'o'f; two or.V more men are needed. for this purpose. The natural tendency of a person dise playingr a number oi rugs in rolls orpiles is partially.. tounroll. them or" to thumb through the corners of rugs in a pile without separating the rugs sol thatonly part of. each rug is displayed. The advantage of ldisplaying a rug so that the entire design may be seen is' well known in the rug merchandising business. Space requirements in 'the average rug selling establishment do not permit a large selection of rugs to. be laid out individually for display/at the same time. To savespace most ofV a stock of rugs must be kept in piles or rolls andy handled by hand each time it is'desiredfto displayv them to a customer. Blurt-hermore the time consumed in. laying outby hand. a succession of` rugs for display is a disadvantage.

We have nowinvented a machinewhich combines all the advantagesof individual displayof each entire rug ina large s'electionwithin` limited space without the. disadvantages above referred t'.

i Our.. principal object is to provide a. machine which mechanicallydisplays each of a largenum.- bei-of rugsin succession, sothat the'entiresur.- face of eachrug may .be seen, all within limited space.A

Essentially ourinvention comprises aV shuttle which. rotates to. wind. upon. itself. each. rug.- from a.v pile. of rugs and. then. traverses horizontally over the rugat thesame timeto pick itv upwith.- out dragging it, continues its traverse with the Wound up rugto anewlocation and automatically reverses its directionoi rotation andtraverseto lay the rug out flat ina seoondpile. henature of,-.the invention will best beunderst'oodfrom the following description in conjunctionr with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig` lis a. top plan vievrof the machinaof the invention;

Fig..2 is a view in. elevation;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail viewinv elevation;

Fjlg'. 4 is-.a fragmentary end vewpartlyfin sec tion taken alongtne lines 4 4 ofsnigjz;

Eig. 5 is a wiring diag-ram, and.

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of a shuttle clamp, flexible member and rug clip.

In the drawings a rectangular frame l0. made of tubular material such as pipe or metal tubing has, Vertical ladder-.like sides tl and l2. Longif` tudinal top members l3-f 3 and bottom. members Ulf-4 are. held in spacedv relation vertically.' by upright braces iii-l5. The sides, H and |2iare held. together topand bottom at theendsby cross braces lle-dfi; Horizontally.- to and inwardly.- of the. top members l 31e?! 3. are. additional longitudi: nal members 'e'-a-secured. in. spaced relation to the` top members Iii-31 by space1s.22-.,-2.. The members 2.-2Qserve. as ways aswill be explained hereinafter. The. sides ivi; and |2- of the. frame lil. are braced in a vertical position by angularly disposed. braces. 24T-211 (seeFig. 4;) between the longitudinal members EBT-.28 and. the bottom cross braces ifi-il at theends. of the. frame. lili rEhe. various members of the frame I D'are secured together. by welding and at its. eornersby pipe fittings.

A carriage 26; having side members. 27172-1; is mounted. to travel' in reciprocal directions along the, ways. 'Z0-:20; on. grooved wheels. .28.-28 .and it is held down, on the waysby grooved wheelsv 39e-.38. under the ways 26.-.26. A pair of. bicycle type driving. chains 3273.2 having doublebanked links. 33:-.-.331 (see Eig. 4) are arranged onealong each sideoftheframe la and looped over pairs of.l idlersprockets. 3473.4 which are located at the ends oi theframel il; The.- endsof eachchain 32e-32. on the. top portions thereofare secured toV bosses. 35i-.1361011 the. side. members. 21;..-..2; 7 of the carriage 26. Consequentlyr actuation of: the chains 3.2'-.-32 overl the sprockets 34.-.34; moves the carriage 2 35. alongv its ways Z-f-.Zk

An electric driving motor ais mountedmiel-l waybetween the. ends of thev frame lo uponl a cross member 42 'which is securedbetween the bottom. longitudinal members. trie-1.4. of; the frame. Themotor 4o: turns a pulley, 441 tofdrive abeltflV and a pulley 4.81011 a shaft of agear boicz. The shaft Fiahasqa worm which turnsl ay gear5 (neither being shown) which is mounted uponav driving shaft 54. The shaft 54 isjournailed, in, upright members 55:56. lwhich are secured totheframe l0. Fixedly mounted upon the. shaft 5ft-.near itsouter ends aretwo sprockets 58+:58AV in such position that the, top ofeach sprocket 58-5ll` engages the.. outer half of the lower portion ofxone ofthe double banked chains 32.-32.to drive it. EXtendinginwardly-from the upright. members 56+-56 are shoes.60--60 over the outer halves of the driving chains 32-32 at the points where they are engaged by the sprockets 58-58. The shoes 60-68 are in sliding contact with the chains 32-32 and serve to maintain them in operative engagement with the sprockets 58-58 at all times. Energizing the motor 40 thuscauses the carriage 26 to traverse along its ways, and reversing the motor reverses the direction of traverse.

A shuttle 62 in the form of a rectangular tubular frame is mounted upon a shaft 64 whose ends are rotatively journalled in the side members 21--21 of the carriage 26, so that the shuttle 62 may rotate about the axis ofits shaft 64. The shuttle 62 is operatively connected to be rotated by the electric driving motor 40 cooperatively whenever the carriage 26 is traversed.4

Each of a pair of sprockets 66-66 on the carriage 26 is positioned to be engaged by the inner half of the lower portion of one of the driving chains 32-32 in contact with the bottom of each sprocket 66-66. The sprockets 66-66 are mounted upon stub shafts 68-68 which are journalled in the side members 21-21 of the carriage 26. The side members 21-21 carry shoes -10 depending therefrom which ride in sliding contact with and under the inner halves of the driving chains 32-32 at the points where they engage the sprockets 66-66. The shoes 10-10 maintain the driving chains 32-32 in operative engagement with the sprockets 66-66 at all times. On the inward ends of the stub shafts 68-68 are sprockets 'l2-l2 which are operatively engaged to drive chains 'I4-14 which in turn drive idler sprockets i6-16. The idler sprockets 'I6-16 are operatively connected and mounted with sprockets 18-'18 on stub shafts 80-80 which are journalled in the side members 2'|-2'|. The sprockets iS-18 in turn drive chains 82-82 and the latter turn sprockets 84-84 which are xedly mounted upon the shaft 64 of the shuttle 62. Thus the shuttle 62 is rotated when the carriage 26 is traversed by the driving motor 4'6. As viewed in Figs. 2 and 3 when the carriage 26 is traversed to the left the vshuttle 62 rotates counterclockwise. Reversing the motor 48 produces traverse to the right and clockwise rotation of the shuttle 62. The gear ratios are arranged so that the rate of movement of members 86-86 of the shuttle 62 circumferentially about its axis of rotation is substantially Vequal to the linear rate of traverse of the carriage 26, for reasons hereinafter explained.

A plurality of shuttle clamps 88--88 are adapted to clamp onto one of the members 86-86 of the shuttle 62 and each is connected by a exible member 96 to a rug clip 92. (See Fig. 6.) Each shuttle clamp 68 is spring biased by a spring 94 to grip the shuttle member 86.V The rug clips 92--92 are adapted and spring biased to grip the end edge of a rug.

When the machine of the invention is operated, 'a pile of rugs 94 is placed on a battl 96 within the right hand half of the frame I6 as viewed in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The carriage 26 and shuttle 62 are placed at the right hand extreme of their traverse. Three rug clips 92-62 are attached to the right hand end of the rug 98 and the connected shuttle clamps 88-88 are clamped onto the lower member 86 of the shuttle 62. The number of rug clips 92-92 and shuttle clamps 88-88 used may be varied according to the size of the rugs to be displayed. The operator closes the switch |04 (described below), which energlzes the electric motor 40 to traverse the carriage ascisse 'i 1 26 to the left and to rotate the shuttle 62 coun-1 terclockwise. The rug 98 is thus wound around the shuttle 62 and the carriage 26 moves along over the rug 98 at a rate substantially equal to the rate of winding so that the rug 98 is rolled off the pile 94 without dragging it. When the carriage 26 passes over the left hand end of the rug pile 94 the rug has been completely wound around the shuttle 62. The shuttle 62 and carriage 26 continue to the left hand limit of traverse whereupon the motor 40 is reversed and the shuttle 62 starts to rotate clockwise. This starts to unwind the rug 98 and lay it out flat on the pile |00 of rugs on a batt |02 in the left hand half of the frame. The carriage 26 traverses to the right as the rug is laid down. The springs 94-94 in the shuttle clamps 88-88 have been adjusted in compression so that the clamps 88 grip the member 86 of the shuttle with just enough force to hold them While one turn of a rug is wound onto the shuttle at the beginning of the operation cycle. When the rug 98 is almost entirely laid out on the left hand pile |00 the shuttle 62 continues clockwise and to the right and pulls out of the clamps 86-88 which remain attached to the rug 98 by their clips 92-92 and returns to its starting position at the right hand extreme of its traverse ready to be attached to the next rug. Each new rug to be moved is attached to the shuttle 62 as above described after it has returned to its right hand position.

The electric motor 40 is electro-responsively controlled to complete the cycle of operation once a starting switch |04 is manually closed momen. tarily to energize it. In the schematic wiring diagram (Fig. 5) the carriage 26 is shown to the right in its starting position against the arm |05 of a normally closed limit switch |06 to hold it open. Having closed a main power switch |08 in a wire ||0 from a main power source indicated by the plug ||2 which has been plugged into a volt power line, the circuit is now closed from the plug ||2 through the wire ||0 to a terminal ||4 of the motor. To start the operation cycle, the starting switch |04 is momentarily closed by hand. The motor 40 is energized to traverse the carriage 26 to the left which allows the limit switch |06 to close so that the hand may be withdrawn from the starting switch |04. This circuit is completed from the plug ||2 through a fuse ||6, a wire IIB, the switch |06, a wire |20, an arm |22 of a relay |24, a terminal |26, a wire |28, a normally closed limit switch |30, a wire |32, a wire |34, and a wire |36 to a terminal |38 of the motor 40. Current also passes from the wire |34 through an arm |40 of the relay |24, a terminal |42 and a wire |44 to a terminal |46 of the motor 40. A terminal |48 of the motor 40 is cross connected to a terminal |50 of the motor 40 through a wire |52, an arm |54 of the relay |24, a terminal |56 and a wire |58.

The carriage |26 continues to the left until almost at the limit of its traverse when it strikes the arm |29 of the limit switch |39 to break the circuit described above and shut oi the motor 40. By inertia the carriage continues to the left until the motor almost stops. It has then struck the arm |59 of a normally open limit switch |60 to close it. This energizes the relay |24 to reverse the motor 40 and start traverse to the right by closing the circuit from the wire |20 through a wire |62, a wire |64, the switch |60, a wire |66, the relay |24 and a wire |68 to thewire H0,

When the relay |24 is energized, its arm |10 and the arms |22, |40 and |54 drop down onto their lower terminals. When the arm makes contact with the terminal |12, a holding circuit to keep the relay energized after the carriage 26 leaves the switch |60 is established from the wire |62 across the arm |10 and through the terminal |12 to the relay and thence through the wire |68 to the wire H0. Current now flows to the motor to traverse the carriage 26 to the right from the wire through the arm |22, a terminal |14, the wire |34 and the wire |36 into the terminal |38 cf the motor. It also ows from the wire |34 across the arm' |40, a terminal |16 and a wire |18 into the terminal |50 of the motor 40. The motor terminals |46 and |48 are cross connected through the wire |44, a terminal |80, the arm |54 and the wire |52.

The carriage 26 continues to the right until it strikes the arm of the limit switch |06, opens it and breaks the main circuit, whereupon the cycle is completed and the carriage comes to rest.

In displaying rugs with the machine of the invention it is only necessary for an operator to wheel a pile of rugs onto the batt with the aid of a dolly. His only remaining physical effort is to clip the end of each rug to the shuttle and the machine does the rest. The machine occupies little more space than two piles of rugs placed close together on a oor. It saves a great deal of labor, time and space.

We claim:

1. A machine for displaying rugs comprising in combination a frame, a pair of rug supporting platforms, one of which is arranged at one end .i said frame and the other of which is arranged' at the opposite end and on the same level as the rst, mechanism for successively moving rugs from a pile of rugs in at condition on one of said platforms and laying them out in a pile in flat condition on the other of said platforms, said mechanism including a pair of horizontal ways on said frame extending on one level between said platforms, a rotatable rug winding shuttle traversable reciprocally on one level back and forth on said ways between said platforms, power means operating to traverse said shuttle along said ways and at the same time to rotate it in one direction and then at a predetermined point automatically to reverse its direction of traverse and rotation and means to connect the edge of a rug on one platform to said shuttle, whereby said rug is wound onto said shuttle as the latter moves from a rst position toward the other platform and then unwound on its said other platform as the shuttle starts back toward its said first position.

2. A machine for displaying rugs comprising in combination a frame, a pair of rug supporting platforms, one of which is arranged at one end of said frame and the other of which is arranged at the opposite end and on the same level as the first, mechanism for successively moving rugs from a pile of rugs in flat condition on one of said platforms and laying them out in a pile in flat condition on the other of said platforms, said mechanism including a pair of horizontal ways on said frame extending on one level between said platforms, a carriage traversable reciprocally on one level back and forth on said ways between said platforms, a rotatable rug winding shuttle mounted on said carriage, power means operating to traverse said carriage along Said ways from a first position and at the same time to rotate said shuttle in one direction and then at a predetermined point automatically to reverse the traverse of the carriage and also the rotation of the shuttle, and means to connect the edge of a rug on one platform to said shuttle whereby said rug is wound onto said shuttle as the carriage moves from a first position toward the other platform and then unwound onto said other platform as the carriage starts back toward its said first position.

ERNEST REISS. HARRY R. GEWERTZ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,157,252 Phillips et al Oct. 19, 1915 1,940,820 Sharaf Dec. 26, 1933 

